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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROMPT SCRIPT: Creating a Digital Calling Script
« on: Dec 03, 2019, 12:19 am »
I?ve got a bit more experience with this now.
My setup is an iPad with an Apple Pencil (stylus), a wireless keyboard, and a stand to prop the iPad upright when I?m using it on a desk.
The script was already a word document, but I made sure the director converted this to a PDF to guarantee the page numbers never move.
For my personal copy I used a somewhat convoluted process to add margins to the PDF so that it is the same width and height as the iPad (in landscape orientation), with the page in the middle and large margins left & right. I do this so that I never have to scroll around a page.
I use the Pencil to draw a box around a cue line and a line from there to a note in the margins. This process is seamless and efficient ? I?m able to do a rough draft during rehearsals then tidy it up later at home when I have time to think about wording and timing.
During the tech rehearsal I quickly decided this wasn?t working for me. The iPad is great for data entry, but I can?t stand using it to read the script. I like to peak a few pages ahead to check details of an upcoming scene change/etc and sometimes and this works better with paper. So I?ve printed my digital script and used colour coded highlighters on all of my calling cues/etc.
I used the iPad all through rehearsals and switched to paper for the first tech rehearsal.
Overall I?m very happy with this setup. Crisp black printed text in a small font is much easier to read under dim backstage lighting and the ability to make changes easily means I?m more likely to to correct slight mistakes.
I tried a bunch of apps and I?m not sure which one I like best yet. Anything that can annotate a PDF will work at the end of the day.
My setup is an iPad with an Apple Pencil (stylus), a wireless keyboard, and a stand to prop the iPad upright when I?m using it on a desk.
The script was already a word document, but I made sure the director converted this to a PDF to guarantee the page numbers never move.
For my personal copy I used a somewhat convoluted process to add margins to the PDF so that it is the same width and height as the iPad (in landscape orientation), with the page in the middle and large margins left & right. I do this so that I never have to scroll around a page.
I use the Pencil to draw a box around a cue line and a line from there to a note in the margins. This process is seamless and efficient ? I?m able to do a rough draft during rehearsals then tidy it up later at home when I have time to think about wording and timing.
During the tech rehearsal I quickly decided this wasn?t working for me. The iPad is great for data entry, but I can?t stand using it to read the script. I like to peak a few pages ahead to check details of an upcoming scene change/etc and sometimes and this works better with paper. So I?ve printed my digital script and used colour coded highlighters on all of my calling cues/etc.
I used the iPad all through rehearsals and switched to paper for the first tech rehearsal.
Overall I?m very happy with this setup. Crisp black printed text in a small font is much easier to read under dim backstage lighting and the ability to make changes easily means I?m more likely to to correct slight mistakes.
I tried a bunch of apps and I?m not sure which one I like best yet. Anything that can annotate a PDF will work at the end of the day.